Inside Squad Busters’ $150 Million Experiment

For more than a decade, Supercell has been the embodiment of creative restraint in gaming.   Its teams, small, independent “cells”, worked quietly, experimenting with prototypes until one showed a spark of potential. Dozens of projects were abandoned along the way, all in pursuit of the company’s north star: to make games that would be played for years and remembered forever.

The last game to fit the “remembered forever” category was Brawl Stars, which launched back in 2018. And despite all the success from mastering live operations, Supercell's new game dry streak was proof that the decade-old formula wasn’t working anymore . Something drastic had to be done…  Then came Squad Busters.

Breaking the Dry-Streak As the company neared a decade without a new major global hit, leadership made a bold decision: instead of the usual drawn-out soft-launch cycle, they would skip it entirely. The bet was that internal data, the collage of all of the company’s IPs in one game, and strong feedback from Apple and Google were enough to validate the concept. This was a recalibration of ambition , a desire to prove that Supercell could still surprise the world.

The result was one, if not the most cinematic, mobile launch in the history of mobile games! And it surprised us all. But maybe not in the way the Finnish publisher intended to… Squad Busters debuted in June 2024 with A-list Hollywood talent, global PR blitzes, full support from Apple and Google, and a multi-channel influencer campaign that blanketed YouTube and TikTok.

It was an entertainment event.   For a couple of exhilarating weeks, it worked. Squad Busters shot into the top charts, amassing over 60 million downloads and reaching around $25 million in monthly revenue.

Supercell, once again, had the world’s attention. I was bought in on the hype. After all, surely the always measured company wouldn’t put a $100M launch campaign unless they knew the game would be a guaranteed success.

But as quickly as it rose, the momentum began to fade. The cracks in the design became apparent, and this time around, the company couldn’t fix them post-launch.   What “Going Big” Really Costs To understand the magnitude of Squad Busters , it’s worth unpacking what “going big” actually means in today’s market.

According to Sensor Tower, out of 60 roughly 25 million of the game’s installs were paid , with around 40% of those on iOS . Post-ATT, cost-per-install in Western markets for premium-tier titles typically ranges from $4 to $6 on iOS , while Android averages $1 to $2 in global tier-2 and tier-3 markets. That alone puts the user acquisition bill around $65 million .